10 Ideas to Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Your Family and Friends

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, but it isn’t for romantic lovers only. Valentine’s Day is also a day to remember ALL the love you have in your life, which includes your wonderful family and friends. For this reason, Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday. I just love that here is a day devoted solely to the expression of love. (Not to mention I’m a sucker for all the cute store displays.) I make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day every year and celebrate with almost everyone in my life that means something to me. Here are a few of my favorite ideas that I’ve done over the years. I hope it will inspire you to start your own fun traditions to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your family, friends, and your significant other.

1. Pack a Valentine’s lunch

When my sister and I lived together, we used to pack each other a Valentine’s lunch to take to work or school. We’d compete with each other to see who can pack the cutest and yummiest meal along with a sweet and mushy note. I’ll probably make Bassam do this with me this year!

Some ideas of things to pack: heart-shaped sandwich, peanut butter apple sandwiches with a little heart cut into the apple slices, strawberries cut into little hearts, X and O shaped pretzels, red pepper strips cut into X’s and O’s, and of course a sweet treat.

2. Host a Valentine’s tea party

My mom loves tea parties, so every year I host an annual Valentine’s tea party for all the women in my family. All the food is Valentine’s inspired and each person gets a little party favor. If your family and friends aren’t into tea, you can host a wine tasting party or a classy dinner party. To get the cheesy factor, have each person go around the dining table and say something that they love about each person in attendance.

3. Marathon chick flick and junk food night

This is the typical single way to spend Valentine’s, but it’s popular for a reason! Even if you aren’t single, pick a night during “Valentine’s Week” and gather up all your favorite cheesy romantic
movies, tons of snacks, and of course tissues. What better excuse to re-watch The Notebook for the millionth time?

4. Valentine’s Activity date

Our favorite kinds of date night are activity dates, where we are learning something new or doing something. You don’t need to be coupled up to go on a Valentine’s Day activity date. here are some ideas you can do in a group or with just one friend.

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5. Valentine’s tasting party

Valentine’s Day is a sweet tooth’s dream holiday! Take advantage of all the yummy goodness that is around by hosting a tasting party. Make a small amount of lots of different desserts and invite your family and friends to sample all the yummies you create.

6. Valentine’s game night

Do a spin on a typical game night by playing Valentine’s Day themed games! I’ve played Valentine’s Family Feud with my family and it was a blast. You can do this with any game that is a favorite of your family and friends like Jeopardy or charades. There are lots of Valentine’s game ideas on this site, including questions for a Valentine’s edition of Family Feud.

7. White Cupid dinner with friends

This was one of my favorite friends dinner. We did a spin on the classic “White Elephant” game and played White Cupid. Play it the same way you would play White Elephant, except with really cheesy
Valentine’s inspired presents. Give an award to the person who brings the craziest present. You could also do “Secret Cupid” as a spin-off of “Secret Santa”.

8. Old school kid’s Valentines

Remember how much fun it was in elementary school when you got a ton of Valentines from each of your classmates every year? I do! I work with kids so I’m constantly reminded of how much fun this was. Every year I buy a couple packs of cheesy kid’s Valentines featuring my favorite characters and give one to almost every single person I know. It’s really fun to give them out throughout the day; it really puts a huge smile on people’s faces! Plus writing them out the night before is really fun.

9. Go on a weekend getaway

Why should couples have all the fun with Valentine’s weekend getaway trips? The best Valentine’s I’ve ever had wasn’t a romantic one, it was a girl’s road trip filled with wine tasting, dancing, fun brunches, and of course lots of chocolate. We had a really cheesy trip celebrating LOVE, but you can have any kind of trip you want. Just get your friends together and spend the weekend doing all of your favorite things. Who needs cupid when you have great friends?

10. Give back

Valentine’s is all about love and warm feelings. What better way to celebrate than by spreading warm feelings? This is a great day to get out there and volunteer. Pick your favorite cause and think of something to do, like visit kids at a children’s hospital. If you don’t have much time, just try to put a smile on the faces of the people you encounter all day. Many people spend the day feeling depressed over the state of their love life, so a simple compliment or smile will go a long way.

What’s your favorite way to spend Valentine’s Day?

Do you celebrate with your family and friends? Comment down below and share your ideas with us!

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Comments

These are really great and sweet ideas. I am in a relationship right now (hopefully forever ^^), but I remember being single on Valentine’s day and it sucked. These are really lovely ideas to celebrate love in all forms !